Should I pay for someone's phone I accidentally broke?

pennypinchUK

Sounds like a simple matter of his mobile phone insurance covering it. If he's not insured, it's his risk. No obligation on you to pay anything.

lilherbz

If he is happy to pay for the repair then I wouldn't worry, maybe buy him a beer next match.

If its only a smashed screen then you can get these replaced for £25 in a shop or £10 from eBay to do it yourself.

Mars_Bar

gaving7095 wrote: »

I'm bucking the emerging trend on this one by saying yes - I think you should contribute.
Through clumsiness, you broke somebody else's phone. You know it's your fault and that's why you feel bad and think you should contribute.

I agree. Those people claiming that the other guy should have insurance or have taken better care are spouting nonsense; the "but for" principle applies - but for you being a clumsy oaf, his phone would not have broken.

florere

Your reaction to a goal was hardly unpredictable, he should have been more careful, if you feel really guilty offer to go 50/50 unless of course his insurance pays out, I suppose that will depend on whether they think that holding a phone above your head to take a photo is reasonable behaviour. It wouldn't surprise me if they refuse to pay.

Moneyless

Morally, Yes, without a seconds doubt, if you had not jogged them they would not have a damaged phone, and to confirm this think of what you would be like if the tables were turned and it was your phone damaged, it's gutting enough to have damaged anything yourself, but damage that only happened because of someone else, that would be overwhelming, because as others have stated, with the right protection such risks are minimised.


So the 50\50 approach would be an appropriate approach as said numerous times, but also as stated, unless the odds on you seeing them again is likely, it's too late to do anything about it anyway, but the fact they were so understanding, was a blessing, such situations could easily get ugly very fast, so it nice to know there are still some nice\reasonable people in the world, all to often I only seem to see the worse side of people.


Sorry if this seems overbearing as a 1st post, but I stumbled across this when looking to raise my own help\advice thread, but your obviously a decent person by the fact you had to ask this to begin with, but by the fact they were happy to take sole responsibility I would just accept it as a "gift" for want of a better word, and the buy them a beer approach is the best way to go if you saw them again (again as said above), and with luck they would of had some kind of insurance to cover the repair only having to find any excess.

Muesli

I'm so surprised that so many people have said that it's their fault for not having insurance. It's not unreasonable to have a phone in your hand for goodness sake, not like the man was balancing it on his head! If you broke it through your clumsy actions then of course you should fix it. If you scratched somebody else's car would you expect them to claim through their insurance or would you expect to pay? This is the same principle.

Growmac

I don't understand why this is a dilemma? You broke his phone. Of course you should pay for the repair. And given you are asking the question, clearly you already know that.

[Deleted User]

Growmac wrote: »

I don't understand why this is a dilemma? You broke his phone. Of course you should pay for the repair. And given you are asking the question, clearly you already know that.

Because at a football match, there's a lot of people getting up, shouting, jumping in excitement.. this is not a clear cut situation where someone 'accidentally' did something.

The 'OP' acted within normal behaviour for a football match. The person with a phone is acting out of normal behaviour by having a fragile, unprotected piece of electronics in a place where jostling is expected. It's like wandering into a nightclub with a vase and getting upset that someone bumped into you and it broke - you shouldn't have been there with it in the first place.

Also - screw people who take photos at football matches with a phone.

janiebquick

Haven't we had this one before?

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/4150769

kingstreet

Muttleythefrog wrote: »

Why is it the only threads I see set up by MSE staff in recent months are clearly manufactured. This isn't a serious question... it isn't genuine. Sorry but it really annoys me... I'm no expert on MSE but people come here for genuine comment and advice.

... and why on the Insurance board?

I assumed an upcoming move from MoneySupermarket into the gadget insurance arena?!?